Institutional racism used as excuse for doing nothing, says CRE chief

Institutional racism is now being used by some public services as a "cop-out" or an excuse to avoid tackling discrimination, the head of the commission for racial equality warned yesterday.

Trevor Phillips, who chairs the CRE, said that the way the phrase coined by the Macpherson inquiry into the murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence was now becoming counterproductive.

"I think it is beginning to be a problem for us. What is happening is that we will say, for example, 'Your services' - whether it is police, prisons, or education - 'are showing bias.'

"What they will say is: "Well, we hold our hands up to institutional racism.' What they mean by that is: 'Somehow it is the system. But it is nothing to do with us, is it? We don't actually have to do anything'," Mr Phillips told BBC's Frost on Sunday.

"I think this is beginning to be a cop-out for people and I am beginning to be rather worried about that."

Mr Phillips said that undoubtedly institutional racism existed: "I am talking about the phrase rather than the reality," he said.

Mr Phillips' comments attracted criticism from the Lawrence family's solicitor, Imran Khan, and race campaigners who argued that the term "institutional racism" continued to be useful.

Mr Khan accused Mr Phillips of "missing the point". He said that if organisations were admitting to being institutionally racist, it was up to the CRE to take action against them.

He said: "If organisations are putting their hands up and admitting the problem, the next step is for them to do something about it. The role of the CRE is to monitor that and if the organisations do not do something about it, to take sanctions."

The solicitor said the CRE ought to make an example of a major organisation it considered guilty of institutional racism to make others accept that they too needed to address the problem.

He said: "For me it's a useful phrase. It means that even if individuals are not overtly racist, the structure and organisation could be operating in such a way as to be discriminatory."

Suresh Grover, of the Monitoring Group, which acts for victims of racial discrimination, said: "For the people and families that we represent the term 'institutional racism' is not just useful, it is pivotal.

"The term is not the problem. The problem is that the agencies which are supposed to monitor change are not doing a forceful enough job, not being brave enough to say if they don't change, they will take punitive action.

"I think Mr Phillips' comments show the ineffectiveness of the CRE."

Mr Phillips' remarks echo a similar controversial intervention by the home secretary, David Blunkett, earlier this year when he complained that institutional racism was being used by some organisations to "let them off the hook" of tackling discrimination.

The head of the CRE also defended the growth of immigration into Britain and urged the government to expand legal routes for economic migrants into the country.

The annual immigration figures published last week showed there has been a sharp drop in asylum applications, while those coming to Britain to settle and apply for citizenship have reached record levels.

Mr Phillips said that the government should make it "a little bit easier" for those coming to Britain to apply to migrate to do specific jobs as in Canada and America. More than 115,000 people came on work permits to Britain in 2002.

The CRE chairman said that it was essential to expand legal migration at a time when Europe's population was ageing and going into a period of decline. "Europe's population will fall from 375 million to below 300 million over the next 40 years," he said.

Mr Blunkett is expected to announce details this week of his citizenship test which is to be introduced next January for all foreign nationals who apply for a British passport.

The home secretary has made clear that he wants to see new migrants have an understanding of British life and their civic responsibilities as well sufficient English language skills.

Mr Blunkett also confirmed yesterday that he was closing a loophole to ensure that all asylum seekers who are convicted of serious offences will face deportation. At present only those sentenced to more than two years can be thrown out of the country. The home secretary said yesterday that he would ensure that those sentenced to less than two years for serious offences could also be deported. The numbers involved are expected to be very small.